I also found some rare and unusual Russian tomatoes that I am sure you will love.

So, I am putting all these "glosnost garden" tomato gems all on one page of this website. That way you can see the fabulous tomato diversity that we Americans of the "cold war" generation never even knew existed.

All seed packs are $3.00 each

CLICK ON EACH SMALL PHOTO TO SEE A LARGER VERSION OF THAT PHOTO.

NEW FOR 2015!~ SIBERIAN TIGER ~aka or " Amur Tiger" Known as "Amurskiy Tigr" in Russian

Remember that old gasoline slogan, "put a tiger in your tank"? Well, this is the "tiger in your garden." These pump out unbelievable quantities of striped red-yellow large cherry tomatoes. I mean more than you can possibly eat. And so pretty, each one just perfect. Each shortish, 3-1/2 foot plant produces about 30 ripe fruits in clusters at any given time and just continues until hard frost. Unlike most cheery tomatoes, these stay on the vine well. Sweet and flavorful. Children will love them. Pair them with the black cherry tomato for a lovely salad look. Another winner! I got my original seeds from my seed source Tanya who lives in Ukraine.

ONE PACK - 20 fresh organically grown seeds

NEW FOR 2015! ~VOLOVE SERTSE ROZHEVI TOMATO
translates from Russian as Pink Heart

Here is another lovely Ukrainian/Russian tomato I grew out this season. I got my original heirloom seeds from Tanya who lives in Gorlovka, Ukraine. These pretty in pink heart shaped tomatoes were such a romantic joy! Born on the usual short 4-foot vine so typical of the Russian sorts, these pretty raspberry pink fruits were mid season in my zone 6a gardens. The tomatoes were solid and heavy, sweet taste and good for eating out of hand right in the garden. Try another of my great rare selections from the former USSR.

Here is another lovely Ukrainian/Russian tomato I grew out this season. I got my original heirloom seeds from Tanya who lives in Gorlovka, Ukraine. I chose this for the neat name but was pleasantly surprised at how lovely and easily it grew. Like most of the Russian sorts it is a short plant, no more than about 4 feet high. This was rather late season for me. They came into their own in late August through late October. Bright shiny red color and such a pretty heart shape, although the shape varied quite a bit and I didn't get a photo of the more heart shaped ones. This was a rather soft fruit, hence why it was so juicy. I liked how the name has "love" in it. Nice fresh, clean taste and very few seeds. Most of the fruits were what I would call medium, 8 ounces. Try another of my great rare selections from the former USSR.

ONE PACK - 15 of my own fresh organically grown seeds.

NEW FOR 2015! ~MIKADO ROZOVYY RUSSIAN TOMATO aka " MIKADO PINK"
Russian Variety- Not the Original American Variety~

This is my "search for holy grail" tomato. I once may have had the correct seeds of the famous Mikado Pink Tomato, but just wasn't able to keep it going happily enough to sell seeds anymore (see here). However, according to my research, this Russian variety may in all probability be related to the famous Mikado tomato.

Mikado tomato was available in a Czech seed bank in the 40s (it was used as a parent when Jaroslav Homola bred his famous Stupice tomatoes), and from there Mikado seeds likely came to the former USSR. But so far no one has been able to obtain a definitive proof of this theory. At any rate this was a darling tomato that threw out hundreds of perfect pink fruit endlessly throughout the entire season. It was tied for third place as the earliest of my tomatoes to ripen and kept it up at this neverendlingly frantic pace until October. The fruits as you can see in my photo were about the size of golf balls ranging up to size of tennis balls. They were borne on trusses of from 10 to 20 fruit each! And each and every one of them was just PERFECT, and a lovely dark pink. No cracks, no spots just pure pink bliss. You never saw such tomato making ability as these plants. If you want only one snacking saladette sized tomato, this is the one. I think these will be a huge hit with market growers. Amazingly prolific plus sweet juicy taste and gorgeous good looks as well. What more can you ask for. Just pop them in your mouth and smile.

These very ruffled tomatoes hail from the former USSR and are ever so fancy looking with all those pretty pleats. Very prolific bushy vines kept on producing all season in little bunches of these cute tomatoes. Very brilliant red color and quite juicy with red flesh as well. I dont have any more information on these little darling tomatoes. I got my original heirloom seeds from Tanya who lives in Gorlovka, Ukraine. She said they were rare heirlooms. With the translation of "Florence Ribbed " perhaps they once were from Florence Italy.

Kids will love this little tomato! This is such a fun tomato to grow. Nope, you won't be sad like the name implies, you will be oh-so-happy! Take a gander at my photo, that is how fun filled this fruit is. "Tsitrusovyy Sad tomato" is rather long season especially for a Russian/Ukrainian sort. But it is well worth waiting for. It acts more like a determinate tomato in that it throws out all its fruit at once. The fruits in my photos were collected all in one morning. Just wonderful 3 to 6 ounce juicy, sweet, canary yellow fruits. Thick enough flesh to use for cooking as well. Make some yellow ketchup! Some of my taste testers this summer said it tasted faintly lemony. Each fruit was just perfect, no spots, no splitting or cracking. With the firmness of the fruit plus the sweet taste this will be a good tomato for market growers to consider selling.

ONE PACK = 20 of my own fresh organically grown seeds

~KEMEROVETS RUSSIAN TOMATO~

I have been selling a tomato I was informed was Kemerovets for several years now. However I have discovered it was not the true one. So I went back to my original seed source, my great Ukrainian gardener friend, Lydmilla. And this season I grew out the very hard to find real Kemerovets. I was pleased with the willing and happy plants. They were not huge, more like 4 feet tall at best (and this in a season where I had tomato plants up to 15 feet high!). They were covered by mid season with little bunches of lovely, heart shaped fruits. They look like a paste sort but were too juicy for that use. I have discovered quite few of the Russian tomato shapes are what we think of as paste types but just look that way. The plants were loaded with firm deep pink fruits and were a standby no matter what this summer. Nice balanced sweet taste in 6-8 ounce fruits. This was small enough to grow in a container. Despite the past confusion over the name of this tomato, I guarantee you this one is the real deal. INCREASED SEED COUNT

ONE PACK = 20 fresh organically grown seeds

~ SHUNTUSKY BOGITIR TOMATO ~ Russian/Ukrainian ~ ONLY USA SOURCE!

Like many of my rare and exclusive Russian and Ukrainian tomato varieties, I got my original seed from my great Ukrainian gardener friend, Lydmilla. This was the racehorse of the season. It was my fastest growing plant, out distancing all the others until midseason. Highly ribbed and a very deep rasberry color, it tended to grow in clusters all along the stem and not so much on the branches as is usual. I had ripe fruit by August 2. The day I was photographing it, my outdoor mouser-kitty, Frankie, would not get out of the picture. So you get to see this charmer next to the bowl of fruit. Frankie is a huge fox-red feral cat that a neighbor says has been hanging around this farmhouse for at least 10 years, which is amazing for a wild cat. Once I gained his trust he was very affectionate but still scared of everything since he had been so abused. I do not know how this name fully translates, but I do know that bogitir (spelled several different ways) means warrior. I like to think Frankie recognized a fellow warrior when he saw this tomato. INCREASED SEED COUNT

ONE PACK = 15 fresh organically grown seeds

~ EUGENE DOOCHOV TOMATO ~ ONLY USA SOURCE! In 2012 I received the most fabulous surprise. In a large padded envelope was a gift of many seeds from Ruslan Doochov (as he spelled it in his letter -evidently it is also spelled Dukhov when translated). He enclosed a rather badly Google translated letter with his all his breeding history and credentials and a personal note to ask me to grow them.I was so excited I could hardly contain myself. Also in the package were his own photos of the tomatoes he enclosed.
This tomato is from seeds in that package that I did not have time to grow in 2012, so I grew these out this 2013 season.
This was a most unusual oxheart type. It is shaped just like a top but also had ridges which I have never seen on any heart shaped tomatoes. Just the prettiest, strangely colored reddish fruit. It was fairly early, and quite meaty with few seeds, as is common with oxheart types. Juicy and solid with a nice balance of sweet and tart for an old fashioned taste. Like many of the Ukrainian tomatoes, they were borne on rather short, spindly vines that were barely able to hold up the heavy fruit. The Eugene Tomato weighed in about 1/2 pound to 3/4 of a pound. To the best of my knowledge I am the only commerical source in the USA.
10 of my own fresh organically grown seeds.

~CHINESE VELVET (RUSSIAN) TOMATO~ (Kitaiskiy Oksamitoviy in Russian) ~ ONLY SOURCE! This is a real "show off" tomato. If you want to entrance children or have bragging rights in the tomato patch, this is the tomato for you. The plants have fuzzy foliage and leaves and are covered in silvery "hairs," not unlike those fluffy, dear to everyone's heart, "lambs ears" (Stachys byzantina). However, the red fruits were covered in, get this, not silver fuzz but GOLDEN FUZZ! This is even though the vine had silver hairs covering the entire plant. Sorry, I could not get this golden color to show up in the photos no matter how many pictures I took. But, believe me when I say they really are golden. Like many of my rare and exclusive Russian and Ukrainian tomato varieties, I got my original seed to this from my great Ukrainian gardener friend, Lydmilla.The fruits were golfball sized for the most part and good keepers. They did not crack, catface or get spots. They just shimmered so prettily on their equally lovely and showy silver vines. To the best of my knowledge I am the only commercial source of this rare tomato in the USA.
10 of my own fresh organically grown seeds.

~EMERALD APPLE TOMATO~ Russian Heirloom~ (this is not the "Emerald" tomato it is totally different)

I am a huge fan of the green-when-ripe tomatoes. I have actually grown this particular tomato for several years but only this year decided to grow it here at my new farmette. It was so happy and prolific this season which I attribute to the cooler, more like "Mother Russia" summer we had. It was more than happy - it was ecstatic! It threw out monster 1 pound and up fruits which just kept getting larger as the season progressed. I was picking baskets of these fruits daily for most of the summer. They fully ripen to a very lovely deep amber color with some pink in it. Cut one open and the sweet pale green juice just flows out. In the photo I am showing all stages of ripeness from the all bright green to the yellow to the pinkish when fully ripe. It is often difficult to get people to try green-when-ripe tomatoes. When I do a "blind" taste test, then they really appreciate the overwhelming sweet yet spicy yet somehow tart taste of these rare gems.

I got my original seeds about 5 years ago from my great Ukrainian gardener friend, Lydmilla, whose mother still lives in the Ukraine and sends her seeds every year. This was the tie to "Dad's Sunset" in my tomato taste tests this summer. It just goes to prove that you cant judge a book by its cover when it comes to perfect tomato taste. Let's see if they become the "apple of your eye" in your colorful garden this year. INCREASED SEED COUNT

ONE PACK = 20 fresh organically grown seeds

VERNISSAGE PINK TOMATO~ Unique Pink From the Ukraine~ Last march I received the most fabulous surprise. In a large padded envelope was a gift of many seeds from Ukrainian tomato breeder, Ruslan Doochov (as he spelled it in his letter -evidently it is also spelled Dukhov when translated). He enclosed a rather badly Google translated letter with his all his breeding history and credentials and a personal note to ask me to grow them.
I was so excited I could hardly contain myself. Also in the package were his own photos of the tomatoes he enclosed. The “Vernisagge" ones were the most beautiful. At first I thought the word referred to their lovely stripes but at last I found out it means “a special advance showing for an art exhibition, originating from a celebration of the completion of a piece of artwork." That is such a way wonderful way to say his own original breeding produced such “artworks" of fruit!
I immediately started these precious gift seeds even though it was late march, way late in the season to start tomatoes in Pennsylvania. I certainly shouldn't have worried, as like most of the tomatoes from the Ukrainian area, they are super fast growers and can take many hardships. This tomato like its 3 other namesakes, positively jumpstarted and was able to catch up to the plants started 6-8 weeks earlier! I never saw such speedy growth. The “Vernisagge Striped Pink Tomato" was the second earliest of the series to throw out ripe fruit.
The fruits were all around 2 to 3 oz (ounces) and all were just perfect. No cracks, no catfacing, nothing but pure artistic beauty. Bigger than a cherry sort but not quite what is called “saladette" sized. They did exceedingly well especially considering the awful weather as we had record breaking heat and drought this 2012 summer here in Amishland.
Ok, you know its gorgeous and a true masterpiece of breeding work, but how about taste? That's always the clincher. These “pretty in pink" beauties had a very sweet but complex taste. They had tiny greenish yellow stripes that didn't really show up in the photos well. Nice and juicy too. And wowie zowie, prolific doesn't even begin to describe how many fruits these basically short vines threw out. The plants were about 4 feet high at most, but smothered in fruit. I mean smothered!! I guarantee you will be a delighted “art critic" with these tomatoes. As Ruslan promised, they are truly little artistic masterpieces. My photos don't do justice to their swirls, stripes and colors. I can't thank you enough, Ruslan Doochov, for sharing your artistry with my little seed company. It was truly the highpoint of my gardening season growing out all your creations! To the best of my knowledge, I am one of only two commercial sources of these rare tomatoes in the United States. Be sure to look for the rest of the series: Vernissage Green, Yellow and Black, each listed on the pages on my website for those colors of tomatoes as well as on this Belarusian/Russian/Ukrainian tomato page.
I can't thank you enough, Ruslan Doochov, for sharing your artistry with my little seed company. It was truly the highpoint of my gardening season growing out all your creations!
10 of my own fresh organically grown seeds.

VERNISSAGE BLACK TOMATO ~ Unique Black From the Ukraine

Last march I received the most fabulous surprise. In a large padded envelope was a gift of many seeds from Ukrainian tomato breeder, Ruslan Doochov (as he spelled it in his letter -evidently it is also spelled Dukhov when translated). He enclosed a rather badly Google translated letter with his all his breeding history and credentials and a personal note to ask me to grow them.
I was so excited I could hardly contain myself. Also in the package were his own photos of the tomatoes he enclosed. The "Vernisagge" ones were the most beautiful. At first I thought the word referred to their lovely stripes but at last I found out it means "a special advance showing for an art exhibition, originating from a celebration of the completion of a piece of artwork." That is such a way wonderful way to say his own original breeding produced such "artworks" of fruit!
I immediately started these precious gift seeds even though it was late March, way late in the season to start tomatoes in Pennsylvania. I certainly shouldn't have worried, as like most of the tomatoes from the Ukrainian area, they are super fast growers and can take many hardships. This tomato, like its 3 other namesakes, positively jumpstarted and was able to catch up to the plants started 6-8 weeks earlier! I never saw such speedy growth. The "Vernisagge Striped Black Tomato" was the earliest of the series to throw out ripe fruit. It was the earliest in my garden after the "Old Ivory Egg".
The fruits were all around 2 to 3 oz (ounces) and all were just perfect. No cracks, no catfacing, nothing but pure artistic beauty. Bigger than a cherry sort but not quite what is called "saladette" sized. They weren't quite as dark in color as Russlan's photos. I chalk this up to the difference in weather as we had record breaking heat and drought this 2012 summer here in Amishland.
Ok, you know its gorgeous and a true masterpiece of breeding work, but how about taste? That's always the clincher. These dark beauties had a rich sublime taste like all the "blacks" I have grown. They have that smokey deepness of flavor you just don't get in other colors. Nice and juicy too. And wowie zowie, prolific doesn't even begin to describe how many fruits these basically short vines threw out. The plants were about 4 feet high at most, but smothered in fruit. I mean smothered!! I guarantee you will be a delighted "art critic" with these tomatoes. As Ruslan promised, they are truly little artistic masterpieces. My photos don't do justice to their swirls ,stripes and colors. To the best of my knowledge, I am one of only two commercial sources of these rare tomatoes in the United States. Be sure to look for the rest of the series: Vernissage Green, Yellow and Pink, each listed on the pages on my website for those colors of tomatoes.
I can't thank you enough, Ruslan Doochov, for sharing your artistry with my little seed company. It was truly the highpoint of my gardening season growing out all your creations! 10 of my own fresh organcally grown seeds.

VERNISSAGE GREEN TOMATO ~Unique Green when ripe tomato From the UkraineLast march I received the most fabulous surprise. In a large padded envelope was a gift of many seeds from Ukrainian tomato breeder, Ruslan Doochov (as he spelled it in his letter -evidently it is also spelled Dukhov when translated). He enclosed a rather badly Google translated letter with his all his breeding history and credentials and a personal note to ask me to grow them.
I was so excited I could hardly contain myself. Also in the package were his own photos of the tomatoes he enclosed. The " Vernisagge" ones were the most beautiful. At first I thought the word referred to their lovely stripes but at last I found out it means “a special advance showing for an art exhibition, originating from a celebration of the completion of a piece of artwork." That is such a way wonderful way to say his own original breeding produced such “artworks" of fruit!
I immediately started these precious gift seeds even though it was late march, way late in the season to start tomatoes in Pennsylvania. I certainly shouldn't have worried, as like most of the tomatoes from the Ukrainian area, they are super fast growers and can take many hardships. This tomato like its 3 other namesakes, positively jumpstarted and was able to catch up to the plants started 6-8 weeks earlier! I never saw such speedy growth.
The fruits were all around 2 to 3 oz (ounces) and all were just perfect. No cracks, no catfacing, nothing but pure artistic beauty. Bigger than a cherry sort but not quite what is called “saladette" sized. They did exceedingly well especially considering the awful weather as we had record breaking heat and drought this 2012 summer here in Amishland. But I also want to emphasize that these tomatoes kept on fruiting right up until hard frost here in Amishland. In fact all of the Vernissage series was very long season that way.
Ok, you know its gorgeous and a true masterpiece of breeding work, but how about taste? That's always the clincher. These unusual green when ripe beauties had a very sweet, but also spicy and complex taste. Green when ripe tomatoes always fool you that way. They also had greenish stripes that didn't really show up in the photos well. Nice and juicy too. And wowie zowie, prolific doesn't even begin to describe how many fruits these basically short vines threw out. The plants were about 4 feet high at most, but smothered in fruit. I mean smothered!! I guarantee you will be a delighted “art critic" with these tomatoes. As Ruslan promised, they are truly little artistic masterpieces. My photos don't do justice to their swirls, stripes and colors.
I can't thank you enough, Ruslan Doochov, for sharing your artistry with my little seed company. It was truly the highpoint of my gardening season growing out all your creations! To the best of my knowledge, I am one of only two commercial sources of these rare tomatoes in the United States. Be sure to look for the rest of the series: Vernissage Pink, Yellow and Black, each listed on the pages on my website for those colors of tomatoes as well as on this Belarusian/Russian/Ukrainian tomato page. 10 of my own fresh organically grown seeds

VERNISSAGE YELLOW TOMATO~ Unique Yellow tomato From the Ukraine~

Last march I received the most fabulous surprise. In a large padded envelope was a gift of many seeds from Ukrainian tomato breeder, Ruslan Doochov (as he spelled it in his letter -evidently it is also spelled Dukhov when translated). He enclosed a rather badly Google translated letter with his all his breeding history and credentials and a personal note to ask me to grow them.
I was so excited I could hardly contain myself. Also in the package were his own photos of the tomatoes he enclosed. The “Vernisagge" ones were the most beautiful. At first I thought the word referred to their lovely stripes but at last I found out it means “a special advance showing for an art exhibition, originating from a celebration of the completion of a piece of artwork." That is such a way wonderful way to say his own original breeding produced such “artworks" of fruit!
I immediately started these precious gift seeds even though it was late march, way late in the season to start tomatoes in Pennsylvania. I certainly shouldn't have worried, as like most of the tomatoes from the Ukrainian area, they are super fast growers and can take many hardships. This tomato like its 3 other namesakes, positively jumpstarted and was able to catch up to the plants started 6-8 weeks earlier! I never saw such speedy growth.
The fruits were all around 2 to 3 oz (ounces) and all were just perfect. No cracks, no catfacing, nothing but pure artistic beauty. Bigger than a cherry sort but not quite what is called “saladette" sized. They did exceedingly well especially considering the awful weather as we had record breaking heat and drought this 2012 summer here in Amishland. But I also want to emphasize that these tomatoes kept on fruiting right up until hard frost here in Amishland. In fact all of the Vernissage series was very long season that way.
Ok, you know its gorgeous and a true masterpiece of breeding work, but how about taste? That's always the clincher. These unusual pale yellow beauties had a very sweet, fruity but complex taste. They also had very light pale greenish stripes that didn't really show up in the photos well. Nice and juicy too. And wowie zowie, prolific doesn't even begin to describe how many fruits these basically short vines threw out. The plants were about 4 feet high at most, but smothered in fruit. I mean smothered!! I guarantee you will be a delighted "art critic" with these tomatoes. As Ruslan promised, they are truly little artistic masterpieces. My photos don't do justice to their swirls, stripes and colors.
I can't thank you enough, Ruslan Doochov, for sharing your artistry with my little seed company. It was truly the highpoint of my gardening season growing out all your creations! To the best of my knowledge, I am one of only two commercial sources of these rare tomatoes in the United States. Be sure to look for the rest of the series: Vernissage Pink, Green and Black, each listed on the pages on my website for those colors of tomatoes as well as on this Belarusian/Russian/Ukrainian tomato page.
10 of my own fresh org
anically grown seeds.

Last march I received the most fabulous surprise. In a large padded envelope was a gift of many seeds from Ruslan Doochov (as he spelled it in his letter -evidently it is also spelled Dukhov when translated). He enclosed a rather badly Google translated letter with his all his breeding history and credentials and a personal note to ask me to grow them.

I was so excited I could hardly contain myself. Also in the package were his own photos of the tomatoes he enclosed. When I saw his photo I though he had send me some pepper seeds too until I looked inside and saw they were indeed tomato seeds after all. This name is what was written on the homemade pack.

I immediately started these precious gift seeds even though it was late march, way late in the season to start tomatoes in Pennsylvania. I certainly shouldn't have worried, as like most of the tomatoes from the Ukrainian area, they are super fast growers and can take many hardships. This tomato, which he named "Pepper Doochova" actually took a bit longer than some but was well worth the wait. It is probably his own take and breeding work on the pepper tomato or hollow stuffer which is in the trade. This one was much more prolific than the American "yellow stuffer" one I have grown previously a few years back but never offered for sale since it did so poorly. "Doochova" also didn't get any spots and held up very well on the vine. It was definitely a huge improvement in my opinion. These tomatoes are totally hollow inside with no gel and are great for stuffing. I like to put chicken or tuna salad in mine. Nice and sweet and as you can see in the photo it looks identical to a yellow sweet bell pepper, although a bit paler in color. This tomato did exceedingly well especially considering the awful weather as we had record breaking heat and drought this 2012 summer here in Amishland. But I also want to emphasize that these tomatoes kept on fruiting right up until hard frost here in Amishland.

I can't thank you enough, Ruslan Doochov, for sharing your artistry with my little seed company. It was truly the highpoint of my gardening season growing out all your creations! To the best of my knowledge I am the only commercial seed source in the United States of the "Pepper Doochova Tomato."

Last march I received the most fabulous surprise.In a large padded envelope was a gift of many seeds from Ukrainian tomato breeder, Ruslan Doochov (as he spelled it in his letter -evidently it is also spelled Dukhov when translated). He enclosed a rather badly Google translated letter with his all his breeding history and credentials and a personal note to ask me to grow them. He said on his homemade packet: "Nicholas Doochov, is named in honor of my father who taught me to grow tomatoes."
I was so excited I could hardly contain myself. Also in the package were his own photos of the tomatoes he enclosed.
I immediately started these precious gift seeds even though it was late march, way late in the season to start tomatoes in Pennsylvania. I certainly shouldn't have worried, as like most of the tomatoes from the Ukrainian area, they are super fast growers and can take many hardships. This and his other tomatoes positively jumpstarted and was able to catch up to the plants started 6-8 weeks earlier! I never saw such speedy growth.For such a large fruited tomato it caught up to the other beefsteak types I was growing despite the lag time.
The fruits were all around half a pound. No cracks, no catfacing, just nice deep red, round fruits. Ok, you know it is another great example of Ruslan Doochov's breeding work, and his own tribute to his father, but how about taste? That's always the clincher.Classic old fashioned flavor like you remember when you were young before all those awful hybrids took over the tomato seed trade. Just the right balance of yum!
To the best of my knowledge, I am the only commmercial source of these rare tomatoes in the United States. Be sure to look for the rest of Doochov's tomatoes: Vernissage Green, Yellow, Black and Pink, and PEPPER TOMATO DOOCHOVA each listed on the pages on my website for those colors of tomatoes as well as here on the "Belarusian/Russian/Ukrainian tomato page." INCREASED SEED COUNT

ONE PACK = 15 fresh organically grown seeds

GIANT DOOCHOV TOMATO~ Unique BIG BEEFSTEAK sized tomato From the Ukraine Last march I received the most fabulous surprise. In a large padded envelope was a gift of many seeds from Ukrainian tomato breeder, Ruslan Doochov (as he spelled it in his letter - evidently it is also spelled Dukhov when translated). He enclosed a rather badly Google translated letter with his all his breeding history and credentials and a personal note to ask me to grow them.
I was so excited I could hardly contain myself. Also in the package were his own photos of the tomatoes he enclosed.
I immediately started these precious gift seeds even though it was late March, way late in the season to start tomatoes in Pennsylvania. I certainly shouldn't have worried, as like most of the tomatoes from the Ukrainian area, they are super fast growers and can take many hardships. This was able to catch up to the plants started 6-8 weeks earlier! For such a large fruited tomato it caught up to the other beefsteak types I was growing despite the lag time.
The fruits were all around half a pound with some larger up to 3/4 of a pound. There was some variance in size. No cracks, no catfacing, just nice deep pinkish-red, oblate (boat shaped) fruits. In my field notes I said "heavy, meaty and solid." That pretty much says it all. Ok, you know it is another great example of Ruslan Doochov's breeding work, but how about taste? That's always the clincher. Classic old fashioned flavor like you remember when you were young before all those awful hybrids took over the tomato seed trade. It had a good balance of sweetness with just a tiny touch of tang. Creamy consistancy. Altogether a nice tomato.
To the best of my knowledge, I am the only commercial source of these rare tomatoes in the United States. Be sure to look for the rest of Doochov's tomatoes: Vernissage Green, Yellow. Black and Pink, and Pepper Tomato Doochova, and Nicholas Doochov, each listed on the pages on my website for those colors of tomatoes as well as here on the "Belarusian/Russian/Ukrainian Tomato Page".
10 of my own fresh organically grown seeds.

**SOLD OUT** PRIDNESTROVSKIY PINK UKRAINIAN TOMATO~ Monster Pink Fruits!!~ These humongous Ukrainian tomatoes were the big surprise of the summer for me. I got my original seed to this from my great Ukrainian gardener friend, Lydmilla whose mother still lives in the Ukraine and sends her seeds every year. Despite its nearly unpronouncable name, this is just a fabulous tomato. If you want to have "braggin' rights" for the biggest, heaviest tomato from your garden, this one is a hot contender. Very early for such a huge tomato and borne on small vines, mine were no more than three and half feet tall at most. Needless to say the weight of the fruit just bent them pretty much in two and they splayed onto the ground. My fruits weighed one and one half (1-1/2 lb) POUNDS each or more! Fabulously beautiful raspberry pink color too. Lydmilla said they were resistant to fusarium wilt as well. Nice sweet creamy taste. Just a perfect beefsteak type of tomato in my opinion. You won't a huge number of fruits per plant but each fruit is 3 times as big as most others. To the best of my knowledge, I am the only commercial source of these rare tomatoes in the United States.**SOLD OUT** Look for this next season.

KORNIIVSKIY UKRAINIAN TOMATO~ Monster Pink Fruits!!~ These were the second kind of humongeous Ukrainian tomatoes that I grew this summer and were another big surprise for me. I got my original seed to this from my great Ukrainian gardener friend, Lydmilla whose mother still lives in the Ukraine and sends her seeds every year. Despite its nearly unpronouncable name, this is just a fabulous tomato. Just like the similar looking PRIDNESTROVSKIY PINK UKRAINIAN tomato also from Lydmilla, if you are looking for "braggin' rights" for the biggest, heaviest tomato from your garden, this one is another hot contender. Very early for such a huge tomato and borne on smallish vines. My plants were 4 feet tall at most. Needless to say, also like the PRIDNESTROVSKIY PINK UKRAINIAN the weight of the fruit just bent them pretty much in two and they splayed onto the ground. My fruits of KORNIIVSKIY UKRAINIAN also weighed one and one half (1-1/2 lb) POUNDS each or more! The fruits had a rather odd matte pink color and tended to have some slight ribbing. Quite sweet and very meaty. Just another perfect beefsteak type of tomato in my opinion. To the best of my knowledge, I am the only commercial source of these rare tomatoes in the United States.
10 of my own fresh organically grown seeds.

UKRAINIAN BEAR CLAW TOMATO~

First of all, this is NOT the famous Quissenberry Bear Claw tomato which is also located on the pink tomato page. This is a Ukrainian tomato and is a unique and unusual shade of pink. It was very hard to photograph the exact color. I got my original seed to this from my great Ukrainian gardener friend, Lydmilla whose mother still lives in the Ukraine and sends her seeds every year. Very productive and prolific, it threw out big 1/2 lb fruits all summer long until hard frost. They grow in bunches or trusses which is in itself unusual for such large fruit. Just packs them on! Huge yields per plant.I probably got more fruit, in weight, off of each of these plants than any others I grew out this hot and drought ridden summer. Just nothing stopped them. The fruits were very meaty and sugary sweet. Be the first to grow this big sweet "teddy bear" of a tomato in your garden. To the best of my knowledge, I am the only commercial source of these rare tomatoes in the United States. INCREASED SEED COUNT

ONE PACK = 15 fresh organically grown seeds

FIOLETOVYI KRUGLYI TOMATO~ Neat Black/Purple type Russian tomato This was an early producer in my garden this summer. Strangely beautiful fruits were a greenish/blackish/purplish color. Borne on trusses of about 4 to 6 fruits, these perfectly round tomatoes just kept pumping out. They have a firm, meaty interior that are in 2 halves or cells. The skin was thin but held up well to handling, making these a market-growers joy. Nice balanced tomato flavor. The nearly unpronouncable name, Fioletovyi Kruglyi, translates from Russian as "Purple Round". That is a pretty apt description, although to me they looked more greenish black in color. These come originally from famous seed saver Andrey Baranovski of Minsk, (now in Belarus). Many of my favorite tomatoes came from him originally such as Orange 1, and Tsygan. You are sure to enjoy this way-easy to grow tomato that beat the heat and drought in this 2012 summer in Amishland. To the best of my knowledge, I am one of only 2 commercial sources of this tomato in the USA.10 of my own fresh organcally grown seeds.

PAUL ROBESON TOMATO~ Splendidly flavored Black Russian Heirloom~

I was astonished by this tomato. I had heard many great stories of its sublime rich taste but adjectives leave a lot to be desired in trying to describe Paul Robeson. It is definitely one the top 5 best tasting tomatoes I have ever tasted! And I have grown out over 130 kinds of heirloom tomatoes and tasted countless more. There is nearly a cult foodie following for this Russian rarity. Seeds were first made available by Marina Danilenko, a Moscow seedswoman. Paul Robeson (1898-1976) was one of the first black opera singers. He starred in "King Solomon’s Mine" in 1937. He was not only a renowned and charismatic operatic singer, but at a time in history when this was nearly impossible. Robeson was also a law school graduate, a gifted athlete, as well as a film star and stage actor. He is perhaps best known as a champion of civil and personal rights throughout the world, especially as an advocate of equal rights for Blacks. His unique abilities and artistry were known world-wide, especially in the Soviet Union. So that is where the name came for this unique "black" tomato came from - as a tribute to this amazing man.
Ok, fascinating history, but what is it about the taste and unusual looks? This is a deep maroonish/brown/red tomato that has a tangy zip, with a velvety smooth texture. It had that dusky, earthy, winey and the oh-so-hard-to-describe smokey taste. I feel you only get that depth of flavor with the deep colored tomatoes. This lovely color just didn't show up well on my photos. The shoulders tended to be a bit deep green in color. I believe in a less record breaking hot summer like we had here in Amishland, it would be a deeper color as well. This tomato variety evidently originates from Siberia and therefore sets fruits at lower temperatures. It certainly was one of my earliest tomatoes to ripen in the cold spring. Medium sized, 3 to 4-inch fruits tended to grow 2 on a spray.
I am always interested in Black (Afro American) civil rights and history, as my dual major in college was African and Asian Studies. Paul Robeson was one of the most prominent and famous blacks of his or any generation. How exicitng for me to grow his namesake! And, as a huge plus, have it be one of the best tomatoes ever!!
10 of my own fresh organically grown seeds.

SLAVIC MASTERPIECE TOMATO- Translated from the Russian -Slavyanskiy Shedevr- Scarce Red Russian Tomato- Only one of two USA commercial seed sources. I got my original seeds for this rare Russian tomato from my dearly departed friend Norwood M. whom I have previously referred to on this website as "my southern seed collector friend". Norwood was one of the most passionate gardeners and seed savers it has been my privilege to know. He had saved seeds of over 350 kinds of tomatoes! And that is just the tomatoes. He had seeds of just about every edible plant. He was friends with and traded seeds with some of the most famous names in tomatoes including the legendary Ben Quissenberry. He was always on the lookout for seeds for my little company, especially Amish, Mennonite and Pennsylvania German varieties. The seed of the legendary "Purple Dog Creek Tomato" came from him. Since he lived in zone 9 he usually didn't try to grow any Russian sorts.
Upon his passing about 2 years ago, his sister sent along a few of his precious seeds to me and his young seed protege, Alex. "Slavic Masterpiece" was definitely one of the winners. Unfortunately, most of his seed collection was lost. That is a just a huge tragic loss to posterity and the seed saving community. I feel fortunate to be continuing some of his seeds.
I was able to trace this rare variety as being sent to America about 10+ years ago by Andrey Baranovski of Minsk, Belarus. Andrey has in the past provided me with seeds to many great tomatoes like the wonderful "Tsygan." But "Slavic masterpiece" came to me via Norwood's collection. The sturdy plants grew about 5 feet tall and were covered with fruits. Strangely, the fruits varied quite a bit in size even on one plant! Nice 4-6 oz. (ounce) fruits were a good bright red color. The taste was evenly balanced between sweet and tart and juicy. Very vigorous growers- they just kept pumping out tomatoes all season long. This was one of the last to die in the hard frost in October. Just a good workhorse tomato suitable for just about anyone's garden. Easy to grow and lots of great salad and fresh out of hand chomping. To the best of my knowledge I am only one of 2 USA commercial seed sources of this great medium sized red tomato. It seems I am destined to be a "museum curator" of tomatoes this season as I am also offering the art exhibition Vernissage collection of tomatoes on this page as well.
10 of my own fresh organically grown seeds.

VELMOZHA RUSSIAN TOMATO- aka Budyonovka or Budenovka( translates as "Budyenny's Cavalry") RARE SIBERIAN HEIRLOOM TOMATO - Only USA Commercial Seed Source This was the coolest sounding tomato. Like many of my rare and exclusive Russian and Ukrainian tomato varieties, I got my original seed to this from my great Ukrainian gardener friend, Lydmilla. It is heart shaped and supposed to grow up to 2 lbs (pounds). It is a Russian heirloom cultivated in Siberia and South Urals regions since the 1950s. But, alas, it wants it homeland and never sized up like that for me! I think our record breaking heat and drought this summer made it very unhappy indeed. It made little cute hearts about half a pound or less. Great raspberry pink color but not the size I was hoping for. Meaty with few seeds and super sugary sweet flavor. The plants were short maybe 3-1/2 feet high. I think maybe you northern gardeners may have better luck. Alaska, or Wisconsin, or Upper Peninsula Michigan anyone? I do not have a photo of this as I lost most of my photos when my computer crashed in November. I was able to save some pics off of my camera but this one was lost. So, if you are adventurous and live in a colder climate than zone 6a try the little (soon to be large!) pink Velmozha. To the best of my knowledge, I am the only commercial USA source of this tomato.
10 of my own fresh organically grown seeds.

MAZARINI HEART RUSSIAN TOMATO ~ Rare Russian Tomato- A sweet Valentine of a tomato! - Only USA commercial source of seeds. Like many of my rare and exclusive Russian and Ukrainian tomato varieties, I got my original seed to this from my great Ukrainian gardener friend, Lydmilla. It is heart shaped ie Oxheart shaped. I put this one in the latest of all my tomato plants but it still caught up. Its support gave way as it was rotted so it sprawled all over the ground but was still happy. Rather wispy foliage and like I said, this summer it fruited late, not its fault, mine. Nice and meaty with very few seeds. Pink on the side of red in color. It had, like most of the Russian heart shaped tomatoes I have grown, a very sweet flavor. Mazarini hales from St. Peterburg and in my opinion, it's the "royal flush" of hearts. Just adorable fruits in the 6 - 8 oz (ounce) range. I do not have a photo of this as I lost most of my photos when my computer crashed in November. I was able to save some pics off of my camera but this one was lost. To the best of my knowledge, I am the only commercial source of these seeds in the USA. So, here is your valentine from the Czar (ok his palace was in St Petersburg) to you.
10 of my own fresh organically grown seeds.

GIRAFFE TOMATO "Zhiraf" in Russian~ RARE~Stick your neck out for this new Russian tomato!
I don't know what it is with the Russians, but they love animal names for tomatoes (and so do I!). I also carry "Pink Flamingo" and used to carry "Black Elephant" and "Red Cardinal", all hailing from "Mother Russia". I just adore giraffe (the plural of giraffe is the same) in the wild. They are nothing like the pathetic single ones you see in zoos.They are so graceful and amazingly active on the savannas of Africa. When running in herds, they look like wheat waving in the wind. Once, on safari in Kenya, we came upon on a big bull (old male) giraffe who had been bitten by a poisonous snake, but still seemed fine although his leg was very swollen. That was attibuted to the fact that the circulatory system in a giraffe is different than most animals. Click here for more info. The Swahili word for giraffe is Twiga, (pronounced tweega) and is the first Swahili word I learned.
This new tomato, was introduced to America by Andrey Baranovski of Minsk, Belarus, (a former part of the Soviet Union until 15 years ago). This was originally bred at the Timirjazev Agricultural Academy, Russia. Giraffe Tomato is what is called a "Long Keeper" and that it was! Cute, perfectly round 2 to 4 oz (ounce) spheres turn from light green to light yellow and ripen very, very late. Then when finally ripe, they tend to have a bit of pinkish red under their skin. Borne on short almost bush plants. These fruits never got soft or rotten or turned funky like so many other tomatoes. When I am in the midst of a tomato glut and trying to save seeds from all my 'maters at once, this one just waited patiently, still firm and ready to eat even in the heat of my side porch. By October they still were firm and ready to eat. Be the first to grow your own herd of Giraffe in your garden. 10 of my own fresh organcally grown seeds.

BLACK KRIM TOMATO Eat it without salt! ~
This heirloom black beauty hails from the Isle of Krim in the Black Sea off the coast of the Crimean peninsula in the Ukraine. It has a sublime, actually mildly salty taste, so forget that salt shaker (unless you are killing slugs!). Black Krim is sweet and rich and has that great wine like flavor you only find in the best of the "blacks". It has a really lovely brick red to maroon-brownish color with some green in the shoulders. So hard to describe but my photo lets you know its coloration best. The interior has a deep green gel. Yields good sized beefsteak type fruit in the 10 to 14 oz (ounce) size range. This tomato grows super fast so it can work well in a container if watered evenly. 10 of my own fresh organcally grown seeds.

I absolutely love the heart shaped tomatoes, called oxhearts in the trade. And this new one, just in from Russia, is a true "heart breaking" beauty. A pure, clear lemon yellow color (my photo doesn't do it justice) , it is just too pretty. Perfect "realio trulio" heart shape. And it just held up so nicely in this hot, dry, drought ridden summer here in Amishland, when so many other tomatoes were biting the dust. Remember, Siberia has just as hot and dry summers as it has cold winters. So, Golden King was the "king of the garden" this season. Although considered an indeterminate, it grew on rather short bushy plants. Needless to say, these were the first tomatoes to ripen. The fruit were creamy ,which is hard to find - I have found this great quality in the Eastern European tomatoes more than in any others. With a sweet taste and smooth flesh, this little "sweetheart" was a real winner. Lord it over your "kingdom" in your garden and grow "Golden King of Siberia". To the best of my knowledge, I am only one of 2 commercial sources of this tomato in the USA. INCREASED SEED COUNT

ONE PACK = 20 fresh organically grown seeds

BLACK PRINCE TOMATO aka Czerno Prinz Tomat (in Russian) My mother's maiden name was Printz (actually an Austrian name) so how could I resist a tomato with this name? This tomato was originally developed in Irkutsk, Russia (in Siberia) some years ago. It is typical of a true Siberian tomato variety since it is just outstanding in northern and cold climates. Despite it royal name it is just a workhorse of a medium tomato. It is juicy and has all those great attributes we love in the black sorts. It has that winey, rich taste that is so indescribable. Black Prince consistently scores high in tomato taste tests. The brownish garnet colored fruits are not only lovely to look at but grow abundantly. Here's to the little Prince of tomatoes! 10 of my own fresh organically grown seeds.

CHUDO ZEMLI UKRAINIAN TOMATO Only USA Source ~

Like many of my rare and exclusive Russian and Ukrainian tomato varieties, I got my original seed to this from my great Ukrainian gardener friend, Lydmilla. I have had troubles translating this name. Chudo means "Miracle" in Russian but I haven't gotten anything for Zemli and can only acertain it must be a place name, as in "Miracle of Zemli." At any rate, this is a very late season tomato that wants cold weather, not the record breaking heat we had here this summer in Amishland. Now that the weather has cooled for fall, it is going gangbusters and setting scads of huge fruit. As I write this on October 23, we had our first frost last night. I am hoping that we have enough warmth for the the rest of the huge fruit to ripen. I have found that the Urkrainain/Russian sorts do ripen late, often after hard frost. This is a luscious, creamy tasting tomato that is very solid with few seeds. It is rather large and heavy. So try for a miracle in your cold weather gardens and grow this pretty pink wonder. To the best of my knowledge I am the only commercial source of this tomato in the USA.

10 of my own fresh organically grown seeds.

"ASHHABADH'S HEART" UKRAINIAN OXHEART TOMATO (SERTSE ASHHABADA) - translates as "Heart of Ashkabad" EXCLUSIVE- ONLY USA COMMERCIAL SEED SOURCE ~ This was another nice surprise from the Ukraine. I got my original seed stock seed for this gorgeous tomato from my dear Ukrainian gardening friend Lydmilla. She said that this tomato was resistant to fusarium wilt and root rot. It is, like many Russian and Ukrainian tomatoes, a determinate plant and quite short at maybe
3-1/2 to 4 feet high. Very pretty top shaped or heart shaped fruit weighing in at 8 ounces (oz) or more. Very firm and meaty and suitable for use as a paste tomato. My special thanks for V.P. who kindly translated the name in an email to me as: "Serdtse Ashhabada" would be "Heart of Ashkabad" -Ashkabad (formerly spelled Ashkhabad) is the capital city of Turkmenistan, a former Soviet republic". To the best of my knowledge, I am the only person in the USA growing out and selling these rare seeds.
10 of my own fresh organically grown seeds.

**SOLD OUT** "PINK TRIFELE RUSSIAN TOMATO" - aka "Pink Truffle Tomato" EXCLUSIVE-ONLY USA COMMERCIAL SOURCE!- Like many of my rare and exclusive Russian and Ukrainian tomato varieties, I got my original seed to this from my great Ukrainian gardener friend, Lydmilla. I now am pleased to say I will now be able to offer all 4 of the Russian Trifele type tomatoes. I grew out last year the JAPANESE BLACK TRIFELE or Black Russian Truffel Tomato. Also, my favorite tomato last year, YELLOW TRIFELE TOMATO. This year I will be offering this, the Pink version as well as the Red version. Not only do I love the silly "Schmoo" shape of the Trifele tomatoes, but they are all very solid and meaty with very few seeds. The seeds were nearly all at the pointy top near the stem, the rest of the fruit had little gel or seeds whatsoever. The Pink Trifele was early and just kept on pumping out nice, perfect fruits all season long. This was the very last ripe tomato in my garden even into late October in my Zone 6A garden, after a hard frost. This Pink Trifele like all 3 of the others, is a small, short, compact plant, no more than 4-1/2 feet high. Maybe half of the fruits had very elegant fluting and pleating while still maintaining that pretty pear shape. The other half were smooth (see 2nd photo). They never cracked or got spots or any other blemishes, every fruit was lovely. Good meaty taste perfect for eating out of hand, in salads or for making your own Glasnost Russian Spaghetti Sauce. To the best of my knowledge, I am the only commercial source of these rare seeds in the USA. **SOLD OUT**

GIGANTESQUE TOMATO - SCARCE ~ ONE OF ONLY 2 SEED SOURCES! !-LIMITED QUANTITIES-ORDER EARLY
-This is one of my favorites of my friend Sergey's four rare kinds of Ukrainian/Russian tomatoes I grew out. Here is what Sergey said in an email to me about his Ukrainian tomatoes:- "I lived almost 40 years in the Capital of Ukraine and came in the US in 1993. I can say, that tomatoes from the south of Ukraine are very tasty. I start a gardening in US 3 years ago. My sister still lives there and she sent me several kinds of seeds from Crimean peninsula on the Black Sea. The best tomato in the Ukraine is from this place.
I have very low quantity of this seeds, but I am going to share with you. In February, my friend is going visit relatives in the Ukraine and he will bring new seeds for me. I will let you know, when they will come. I am going to send you few seeds of each kind of tomato with descriptions" Here is how Sergey described what he called "Gigantesque":- "I just translate it as very, very, very, big. Bushes are very high and heavy. They are disease resistant, heavy yield". I have grown out more than 50 kinds of tomatoes, and this absolutely the largest, hands down. I never saw such huge fruits, even larger than my record breaker "Hawaiian Pineapple." Each fruit was an amazing orangish red color, more on the orange side. The insides were a lovely very meaty pink color, which you don't expect from the outside color. Solid pink flesh inside, very little gel, and few seeds. Super taste in real prize winner sized fruits. The average fruit was close to 2 pounds or more, and more than 5" across! The photos are of the first ripe gigantesque tomato of season, they got much, much larger. I can't believe I didn't take any other later photos! Be the first in your neighborhood to have these monster sized tomatoes. These get to be an amazing size in such a short time. I am one of only two seed sources for this rare tomato.
My own 10 fresh organically grown seeds.

KIBITS UKRAINIAN TOMATO ~ Tiniest Tomato Plant Ever! ~ Ideal for Containers ~ Only USA Source ~ LIMITED QUANTITIES-ORDER EARLY
This little sausage shaped tomato is just so adorable. The plants were literally only 18" high at most, and most were only 1 foot high. It was covered all season with fruit that just hung to the ground it was that loaded. It ripened very early with fruits in mid July here in Pennsylvania. The fruit looked like they would be that elongated European style plum type. However, they were quite juicy, not really plum-type meaty. They were a great all purpose, snacking, eating-out-of-hand, and salad type. Just so full of juice and flavor and ever so cute. It is wilt resistant besides. These kept on producing continuously all season long, right until hard frost. It was the last tomato I was harvesting this season. If you want a container growing type of tomato this rare Russian tomato is for you. I never had such a teeny, tiny plant produce so much. It easily out produced many much larger plants. All you apartment dwellers are gonna love this baby plant! Even the name is cute. It really was one of my favorites this season. To the best of my knowledge, I am the only source of this seed in the USA.
5 fresh organically grown seeds.

**SOLD OUT** "RED TRIFELE RUSSIAN TOMATO" - aka " RED Truffle Tomato" EXCLUSIVE-ONLY USA COMMERCIAL SOURCE!-Like many of my rare and exclusive Russian and Ukrainian tomato varieties I got my original seed to this from my great Ukrainian gardener friend, Lydmilla. I now am pleased to say I will now be able to offer all 4 of the Russian Trifele type tomatoes. I grew out last year the JAPANESE BLACK TRIFELE or Black Russian Truffel Tomato. Also, my favorite tomato last year, YELLOW TRIFELE TOMATO. This year I will be offering this, the Red version as well as the Pink version. Not only do I love the silly "Schmoo" shape of the Trifele tomatoes, but they are all very solid and meaty with very few seeds. The seeds were nearly all at the pointy top near the stem, the rest of the fruit had little gel or seeds whatsoever. The Red Trifele was early and just kept on pumping out nice, perfect fruits all season long. This Red Trifele tomato like all 3 of the others, is a small, short, compact plant, no more than 4-1/2 feet high. Pretty pear shape, a bit smaller in size than the Pink Trifele with no Fluting, all smooth fruit. They never cracked or got spots or any other blemishes, every fruit was lovely. Good meaty taste perfect for eating out of hand, in salads or for making your own Glasnost Russian Spaghetti Sauce. To the best of my knowledge, I am the only commercial source of these rare seeds in the USA. **SOLD OUT**

"CHERNOMOR TOMATO" - Unique Brown Color!- - EXCLUSIVE!- Only USA Commercial Seed Source- I got my original seed stock seed for this great little tomato from my dear Ukrainian gardening friend Lydmilla. She called it a brown tomato, so I will too. It is in that range of peculiar green, brown, purple and black that so many tomatoes from that part of the world show. The photo doesn't do justice to its brown burnished beauty. I often am so busy in my gardens growing tomatoes and veggies that I miss my oportunity to get better pics of my lovely fruit. They really got darker and much prettier as the summer progressed and this photo was taken early in the season. These are medium sized, about 5-7 oz, and have that wonderful smokiness and richness of flavor that we all love in the darker hued tomatoes. I have been told that the name Chernomor means "Black Sea Man" or "Black Seaman" which is the direct translation from Russian. I don't know if this is the same tomato as the one sold by that name. I have been told that it is resistant to late blight by Lydmilla, although this dry summer I was lucky enough not to have to find out. Be the first to try this tomato where you live. To the best of my knowledge I am the only commercial source of these seeds in the USA. 10 of my own fresh organically grown seeds.

ORANGE 1 TOMATO - ~ from BELARUS ~ RARE~ SCARCE!
I received a wonderful surprise package of heirloom seeds from Andrey Baranovski of Minsk , Belarus, a former part of the Soviet Union until 15 years ago . It is situated between Russia and Poland and is in growing Zone 4A. Andrey is an avid gardener and vegetable seed saver, and mailed me his favorite seeds without any notice , in hopes of a seed trade which we promptly did. He wrote in his letter to me in nearly flawless English: "I visited your site and was very impressed with your collection of rare and traditional vegetables, especially eggplant of different colors ... I would like to introduce you some of our varieties. Most of them are cold tolerant...it is huge snowing now and -10C. I live in zone 4A and grow most of the peppers and eggplants inside greenhouses and tomatoes half in greenhouses and half in open soils...hot peppers are not so popular while sweet are widely growing for fresh eating and pickling....I want you to present these great varieties to American and other foreign gardeners."
Here is how he described Orange 1 tomato (which was bred at the Belarusian Research Institute of Vegetable Gardening ): "orange, midearly, plain round shape, meaty and very delicious, from Belarus. Determinate -height- 60 cm, average size of fruit -100gr, maximum harvest from one plant -4.5 kg. Local tasty favorite for midearly tomatoes." I would describe it as more of a paste type tomato, very firm meaty flesh, and few seeds, with orange gel. Each fruit was absolutely perfect, from the very first to the very last! Extremely prolific and the color was an indescribably lovely orange-ish yellow. Very pretty fruit born mostly on tresses. Great wow, sweet, rich taste. I was super impressed with these babies, as they positively glowed in the sunlight. I had an amazing quantity of fruit from the very short, (maybe 4 ft tall at the most), vines. This one is a real winner, thanks Andrey!! In my yearly summer taste tests, and at the two museum shows I lecture at with heirloom gardens, they were a real winner too, and generated a lot of interest. Be the first in the United States to grow this rare Belarus heirloom tomato. To the best of my knowledge, I am one of only 2 commercial seed sources (they got it directly from Andrey B. also) of this tomato in the United States, thanks to the generosity of Andrey B. of Belarus
10 of my own fresh organically grown seeds.

TSYGAN BLACK TOMATO ~ VERY LIMITED QUANTITIES~ ORDER EARLY - (translates from Russian as GYPSY or GIPSY) ~ Here is another great, rare tomato from seeds I received from Andrey B. of Belarus. He described it as: "Brown-dark-red, midearly, tasty Russian variety. Semi-determinate, height 120 cm, average fruit size 120 gr, maximum harvest from one plant 5 kg." This tomato was actually very early and yet also very late for me in my zone 6A garden this year. I suspect, like many "black" tomatoes, it does not like the typical American hot summers. We have even had a hard frost already! This season here in Amishland, was very hard. It was unseasonably cold and wet in the early season, then followed by drought, more coolness and many cloudy days. Well, that cool weather made the Tsygan tomato very happy for a change and this year it really went to town! The fruit are deeply brown, brick red with deep green shoulders and dark forest green jel inside. This year the Tsygan weighed in at 1/2 pound or more as you can see by the photo. The flavor is scrumptious, rich and creamy, almost winey. This one is well worth waiting for and it may be happier in colder regions of the United States where it may be hard to grow ripe tomatoes successfully. To the best of my knowledge, I am only one of two commercial seed sources of this rare "black" tomato in the United States (they got their original seed from Andrey also)
10 of my own organically grown seeds.

HURMA or KHURMA UKRAINIAN Heirloom TOMATO Another wonderful tomato from Sergey! This is the loveliest, almost fluorescent orange tomato. Hurma means persimmon in Russian. I have grown a "Russian Persimmon" tomato previously and this is a totally different variety. These small, perfect little orbs of golden sunshine grew early and kept on producing all summer long. They are about 4-7 ounces and nice and sweet and fruity (not sour like real persimmons). The name comes from their vivid color. This is a very rare variety seldom seen outside of the Ukraine or the Russian bloc nations. Great sliced on a plate of rainbow colors of Heirloom tomatoes.
10 Fresh organically grown seeds.

AMAZON CHOCOLATE TOMATO -aka Chocolate Amazon Ukrainian Tomato ~ My Own Introduction
This was my absolute favorite tomato from my friend Sergey's 4 rare kinds of Ukrainian/Russian tomatoes that I have grown. In fact, I would say this is still my very favorite tomato for superb taste, ease of growth, earliness, and hardiness. Here in his own words is the original email I received from Sergey: "I lived almost 40 years in the Capital of Ukraine and came in the US in 1993. I can say that tomatoes from the south of Ukraine are very tasty. I start gardening in US 3 years ago. My sister still lives there and she sent me several kinds of seeds from Crimean peninsula on the Black Sea. The best tomato in the Ukraine is from this place. I have very low quantity of this seeds, but I am going to share with you. In February, my friend is going visit relatives in the Ukraine and he will bring new seeds for me. I will let you know when they will come. I am going to send you few seeds of each kind of tomato with descriptions." Here is how he described this tomato which he translated as Chocolate Amazon: "It is really purple color. I have no other information about this sort." I think the name is perfect, it is really a rich brown in color like deep chocolate, and quite large as the fruit can grow one pound or more. Unlike other so-called "black" tomatoes, this one was huge, larger than any other "black" that I have grown. Distinctive winey, deep, smokey, rich taste and fabulous color. It is way early to color up, very prolific and keeps on pumping out huge beefsteaks until hard frost. It can take a lot of drought and heat as well as the cold.

I guarantee you have never seen or tasted a rich tomato like this. Everyone, (and I do mean everyone!) who tastes "Amazon Chocolate" says that this one is absolutely the best tasting tomato they have ever eaten, bar none. I even get long distance phone calls from customers who just have to tell me how fabulous it tastes. Even those who were hesitant to try such a strange colored tomato loved it. I exhibit at several harvest fairs and museum shows each season, and always put out a large tray of my tomatoes for people to sample. This one always gets their immediate and rapt attention. After their first bite, they want to buy seeds of "Amazon Chocolate" right there on the spot. In fact, in all honesty, you might say they demand the seeds! Please be sure to try this spectacular, rare and scarce tomato for your eating pleasure this year. I guarantee you will love it! Also, be sure to check out my fantastic new "Black" tomato that I grew out this season. It has a very boring name, "Giant Black Ukrainian", for such a great fruit. At first glance it looks a lot like the "Amazon Chocolate" but it tends towards being a determinate vine. Try them both and do your own taste tests.
My own 10 fresh organically grown seeds.

EFEMER RED UKRAINIAN TOMATO - ONLY USA SEED SOURCE! VERY LIMITED QUANTITIES! ORDER EARLY! Another wonderful tomato from Sergey! Here is what Sergey said in an email to me about his Ukrainian
tomatoes: "I lived almost 40 years in the Capital of Ukraine and came in the US in 1993. I can say, that tomatoes from the south of Ukraine are very tasty. I start a gardening in US 3 years ago. My sister still lives there and she sent me several kinds of seeds from Crimean peninsula on the Black Sea. The best tomato in the Ukraine is from this place. I have very low quantity of this seeds, but I am going to share with you.

Efemer translates as "unusual" in Ukrainian. It didn't look all that unusual, but the taste was the clincher, everything you want in a tomato! Vibrant red fruit was beyond prolific, pumping out medium sized firm fruit all season. This was nice and early like all the Ukrainian tomatoes, and also frost resistant. One of the first to start and the last to leave the garden this season. According to the translation Sergey gave me, it is capable of producing 2 harvests in one year. I'm not quite sure what that means, but here in my Zone 6a garden it was definitely out producing all the other tomatoes, especially in the rainy summer we had. To the best of my knowledge, this tomato is not available from anyone else in the United States.
10 Fresh organically grown seeds.

Pointy shape- I grew out this great all purpose heirloom tomato from a few seeds I received in a seed trade from a lady's Grandmother who lives in the Ukraine (formerly in Russia). Very compact plants are absolutely prolific with strangely shaped elongated fruit with points on the end. I have grown other paste type tomatoes with this unusual shape and all have very different flavors. Sabre (think like the shape of a sword or saber ) is so meaty and solid fleshed. Virtually no gel and very few seeds. I averaged only 10 seeds per tomato! Perfect thin, bright red skin that peels easily for cooking. It cooked down fast to make the sweetest, richest , thickest tomato sauce. I rate this one of the best cooking tomatoes I have ever tasted, and I have grown out over 100 kinds of tomatoes. This tomato takes a bit longer to reach its full potential, but is well worth the wait. To the best of my knowledge, this tomato is not available commercially from anyone else in the United States. INCREASED SEED COUNT FROM 5 to 15 DUE TO BANNER YEAR GROWING SEASON!

NYAGOUS BLACK TOMATO~ Here is the most unusual "black" tomato I have grown out. Not really black, more of a darkish brick red color with a strange, almost glowing, emerald green undertone. Absolutely the first "black" type I have grown that is not prone to catfacing (spiral cracks) or cracking. Each fruit was flawless! I was told it would be grayish in coloring but did not experience that. My seed stock is originally from Dr. Jeff Nekola, via the famous German tomato collector and expert, Reinhard Kraft. Unfortunately, I do not know what country this great tomato is really from, because I wasn't given any more information. The 4- 6 ounce fruits grow on tresses or clusters. Very productive. But you do have to watch that you collect the fruit before it gets too ripe, since there is no indication of ripeness by color. I lost a lot of fruit to over ripening. Nice smokey flavor typical of the "black" type tomatoes. Rare new import. 15 of my own fresh organically grown seeds.

JAPANESE BLACK TRIFELE aka (in Russian:Tomat Jaapani Trüffel), aka Black Russian Truffel Tomato
Scarce ~ I got my original seed from my Ukrainian gardening friend, Lydmilla. Despite its name, this is Russian tomato! Cute Bartlett pear shaped fruit in a very deep black color with green shoulders. Or, as I personally think, Shmoo shaped. Read my "Yellow Trifele" description to see a photo of a shmoo. Very pretty with absolutely no cracking. My photos only begin to touch on its true beauty. The flavor is that you will truly love, rich and deep like fine quality chocolate. This grew on nearly determinate, short vines and took all kinds of weather with aplomb. I have also the rarer "Yellow Trifele" also from Russia and the Ukraine. Lydmilla sent along the red and pink trifele which I regret I did not grow out this season. I had no idea how wonderful these trifele types are. If you are a chocaholic this is the tomato for you!
My own 10 fresh organically grown seeds.

YELLOW TRIFELE TOMATO - Scarce Russian Heirloom ~Only USA Source~Looks like Al Capp's "Schmoo"!- LIMITED QUANTITIES-ORDER EARLY -
I absolutely adored these cute bright orangey yellow tomatoes! Talk about prolific. They filled up the smallish vines over and over. Each cute 3- 4 oz fruit was truly perfect. Not a single mark, crack or any defacing at all, just tons of silly little "Shmoo" shaped tomatoes. If you aren't baby boomer age, "Shmoos" were an invention of the comic strip writer Al Capp who did the "Li'l Abner" series. They date back at least to 1949, although I remember them in my childhood in the 50's and 60's.
(See the accompanying picture for the amazing resemblance.) But not only is the "Yellow Trifele" cute is it a great little tomato. It is a super "keeper", keeping fresh and firm for weeks after picking. I think it would make a dream of a market grower's type. Nice light orange colored flesh and sweet taste. They start out lighter yellow and get more golden as they ripen more while still remaining firm. They tend to get slightly green shoulders on some fruit. The trifele is a name that must refer to its unique shape in Russian. I received seeds of the pink, red and black trifele which are all that strange shape. But I only grew out the yellow and black this season. My original seed stock is from my Ukrainian gardening friend, Lydmilla. Look also on my website for her “Japanese Black Trifele" which, despite its name, is Russian. To the best of my knowledge, I am the only commercial seed source of this variety in the USA. Try it first for the laughs and then to enjoy their wonderful long keeping sweetness.
My own 10 organically grown seeds.

GIANT LEMON UKRAINIAN TOMATO
Rare~Only USA Source~

I got my original seeds from my great Ukrainian gardening friend, Lydmilla. I just loved the color; it is not like any other yellow tomato I have grown, more of a clear lemon yellow with no trace of orange. So I once again have a limited quantity of these seeds available. Nice clear yellow interior and light refreshing fruity taste as you might expect from such a pretty yellow fruit. Very juicy and mild. To the best of my knowledge I am the only commercial seed source of this tomato in the USA. INCREASED SEED COUNT

ONE PACK = 20 fresh organically grown seeds

SANDUL MOLDOVAN TOMATO LIMITED QUANTITIES -ORDER EARLY
I can't say enough wonderful things about this lovely heirloom tomato. These gorgeous deep pink tomatoes won all my taste tests this season. I gave out samples at a museum garden show and people "demanded" to buy the seeds on the spot. A creamy, sweet, perfectly balanced flavor of sugar and acid in each huge one pound or more fruits. Fully one month earlier than any other I grew out this season. Monster vines which measured over 11 feet! I gave up trying to stake them, as each plant was weighed down with huge quantities of 1 lb+ fruit. This is an heirloom tomato brought over by the Sandul family from the Moldovan region in Europe. 10 of my own fresh organically grown seeds.

PINK (ROZOVIY) FLAMINGO UKRAINIAN TOMATO - ONLY USA SEED SOURCE!
-I got my original seeds for this great tomato in my second year of trading seeds with a lady's grandmother who still lives in the Ukraine (formerly in the Russian Soviet Union). I just loved the name, and for some reason the Ukrainians seem to be obsessed with flamingos. We even have a good sized Ukrainian population nearby with a food store/deli, called, you guessed it, "Flamingo Cafe". Even written in the cyrillic alphabet, you can read that it says Flamingo, since it doesn't seem to translate. At any rate this is a fabulous tomato by any name. Very early, also one of my very first ripe tomatoes. A lovely raspberry pink color, solid and meaty. Each fruit was perfect, exactly the same size with no cracks or catfacing ever. This is great for eating out of hand, for salads, or salsa. It would lend itself well to being a good paste/spaghetti/cooking tomato as well. Medium height, indeterminate vines produced prolifically all season and are still pumping out perfect orbs of pink sweetness. A light frost has not deterred this tomato at all. Whatever its lighthearted name, this is a seriously good tomato.To the best of my knowledge, I am the only commercial seed source of this tomato in the United States. My own 10 organically grown seeds.

"MONOMAKH`S CROWN " aka "MONOMAKH`S HAT " - RUSSIAN TOMATO -Translated from "SHAPKA MONOMAHA"~ VERY SCARCE! ~ Monster Sized Fruit! ~ Increased Seed Count ~
This is the largest, hands down, tomato I grew out this season. It beat out over 20 kinds . Wow, I finally found out what this weird name really translates as! I originally was told shapka was hat. Well, the Shapka Monomakha is a crown on display at the Kremlin. It was supposedly presented to Prince Vladimir Monomakh of Kiev (1053 - 1125) by his grandfather, Byzantine Emperor Constanine IX. It came to symbolize Russia's claim to heritage to Byzantium. It was used to crown Russian monarchs from the 1400's until Peter the Great in the 1700's. I believe this tomato really is the 'crown' of Russian tomatoes.As you can obviously see by the photo this is one "bragging rights" kind of tomato. And that wasn't even the biggest one. You will definitely win any biggest or heaviest tomato contest with this monster. Great size and taste but very stingy with its seeds. Very meaty and dense interior. Great old fashioned taste. To the best of my knowledge, I am only one of 2 commercial sources of this seed in the USA(and I am pretty sure they got their seeds for their seed stock from me). Very limited quantity- Order early. Increased seed count to 10 fresh organically grown seeds!

*SOLD OUT* YUBILENYNIY TARASENKA TOMATO- ~ EXCLUSIVE ~RARE ~ ONLY ONE OF 2 SOURCES! -My introduction to the USA -
Here is another great tomato from the Ukraine. I grew it out from seeds I originally traded for the third year in a row with a lady's grandmother who still lives in the Ukraine (formerly in the Soviet Union). I love her tomatoes! She still hasn't got much English to help me though. Through new information suplied by a customer I now know this great tomato was developed by Fedor Tarasenko, who celebrated his 75th anniverary in 1987 and named the variety after his jubilee (yubileyny). Fedor Tarasenko apparently was a rather well known tomato breeder from Russia. (I suspect he is no longer living). It was very meaty, firm and sweet with very few seeds. It cooks down wonderfully for sauce but is also great for fresh eating. It grows on a short vine and wasn't quite as early as many of the Ukrainian sorts, but well worth the wait. A great addition for the chef in your family. To the best of my knowledge, I am the only one of 2 persons in the USA growing out and selling these rare seeds commercially. *SOLD OUT*

WORLD'S MIRACLE HEIRLOOM RUSSIAN PASTE TOMATO - aka MIRACLE OF THE WORLD PASTE TOMATO-RARE -VERY LIMITED QUANTITIES -ORDER EARLY
I have seen this called both ways. I loved the "modest" name, haha. They may not be a miracle but they are pretty darn good! I got my seeds in a seed trade , and I was amazed at how early and prolific these long pointy paste tomatoes were. Like many paste tomatoes from outside of the United States, they are elongated and have a definite "nipple" on the blossom end. These looked identical to my "Sabre Ukrainian Heirloom Tomato" that I got originally from my wonderful Ukrainian friend, Sergey, except they were about half their size! But that doesn't mean they were half as good, they were super. They were also a good bit earlier. They did not fall off the vine as many of these old time types do when ripe. I really loved the sweet, rich flavor and the fact that were so meaty with almost no seeds.Very thin skin too. They were rather dry inside, which means they are solid with very little wet gel. This makes them perfect for cooking down into rich ,savory sauces, dicing up for salsas, and all kinds of cooking uses. I am sure that once you try the sweet, long type paste tomatoes such as these you will never go back to the egg shaped types we Americans usually cook with. This is a hard to find tomato but well worth the search. Try these and while you are at it, for fun try my double sized " Sabre Ukrainian Paste Tomatoes". 5 of my own fresh organically grown seeds.

ORANGE RUSSIAN 117 TOMATO -
This was my favorite new bi-color (striped) tomato that I have ever grown, and believe me, I have grown lots as I adore the striations and marbling . This gorgeous tomato hails from the famous seed bank of the former Soviet Union. This is the first heart shaped (oxheart) tomato ever discovered with stripes. It is bi-colored both outside and inside. Absolutely breathtaking beauty. The taste is fruity, sweet and wonderful. I had very large fruits, mine averaged one pound, although it was described as being 8 oz or more. Very solid meat, scant gel and very few seeds. I am so very pleased to offer this beauty. It was somewhat late to ripen but it is really pumping out fruit now even in the cold, I guess that's its Russian genes. This was the tomato more people commented on in my gardens than any other this season. My own 10 organically grown seeds.